From Bet To Love

Chapter 1: Moving to the City

Jennifer’s POV

“I love you, Jenny, more than anything in this world,” he said while staring into my eyes.

“I love you too, Alex,” I replied with tears in my eyes. A beautiful smile dancing on my lips.

He took a step closer to me and raised his hand to cup my face as he whispered.

“Remember this; you said it yourself. That means you cannot leave me now.” He paused and wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

“I will never let you go. You are forever mine.”.

“Forever.” he whispered into my ears.

I woke up with a jerk when the alarm on my phone went off. I looked around frantically and found myself sitting on my bed in my new dorm room.

I sighed. It was again that dream. I buried my face in my palms and felt something wet on my cheeks. This is when I realized that I was crying.

I sighed again, closing my eyes.

‘Would I ever be able to move on?’

I wiped my face with the long sleeve of my oversized hoodie and reached to take my phone from the nightstand. I turned the alarm off.

Sighing out loud, I got up from my bed and decided to get ready for my first day at my new college.

I put my backpack on my bed after getting ready for the day. Just as I was about to pick up my phone to make a call, it started ringing, making me smile.

I slid the green icon on my phone to answer the call.

“Good morning, mom.”.

“Good morning, sweetheart. What are you doing?” My mom asked.

“I’m just waiting for Amber after getting ready. She said she would pick me up on her way.”.

“Oh, it’s great. I was worried thinking about how you are going to travel every day. Your dorm is quite far from your college,” she said.

I could hear her moving around while talking to me on the phone. She must be preparing to go to her work.

“It’s not that far, mom. It’s just at a thirty-minute walking distance.”.

“It is far, dear. So don’t think about walking to college and let Amber drop you off. And on days when she is busy, take the bus, okay?”

I shook my head, chuckling at my mom’s nagging, but still gave her the answer she wanted to hear: “Okay, mom, as you say.”.

“How is your dorm room? Is it comfortable enough?” She asked, and I was like, ‘Here she goes again?’

“You are asking the same question for the hundredth time now, and it’s not even been twenty-four hours since I moved in here. I told you that everything is fine here, and I really like this dorm room. Everything’s comfortable,” I told her.

There was a brief pause on the other end, and I could guess what she was thinking.

“You know that I care for you, Jenny, right?” she asked, and I knew why she was asking this question.

I know she still regrets not always being there for me and neglecting me because of her work. She even blames herself for everything that happened last year.

I won’t lie and say that I have never resented her for not being there for me when I needed her. But still, I don’t want her to feel this way.

I can see that she is trying to change for the better. She is trying to correct her mistakes and make it up to me.

I just hope she won’t worry too much about me.

“I know, mom,” I replied with a smile on my face.

“Take care of yourself. And if there is anything that’s bothering you, tell me about it. Don’t just keep everything… to yourself.”.

The feeling of warmth spread in my heart at her concern.

“I won’t, mom. I’ll tell you if I need your help. So stop worrying about me and take care of yourself.”.

“I will,” she said.

I removed my phone from my ear to look at the screen when I felt it buzzing against my skin, and it was a text message from Amber telling me that she was here.

I put the phone back on my ear and said, “Okay, mom, Amber’s here. I’ll go now. Talk to you in the evening.”.

“Okay, have a blast on your first day. I’ll call in the evening, so fill me up on everything that happened today.”.

“Sure. Bye bye, take care,” I said, and I disconnected the call.

I took my bag from the bed, slung it over my shoulder, and made my way out of my dorm room.

I came out of the building and saw a red car parked in front. Before I could look around to see who’s car this could be, I heard a shriek of excitement from behind me.

And the next moment, I was caught in a bone-crushing hug.

“Oh my god, Jenny, I missed you,” she shouted while still holding me in the hug.

I smiled at my best friend, wrapped my arms around her, and shouted back, “I missed you more, my bestie.”.

I know there is no need to shout, as we are literally hugging each other. But it’s our way to greet one another when we meet after a very long time.

And it’s been almost a year since we last met. The last time we met was when she came to town to spend her summer vacations and stayed at our house.

“Aren’t you planning to pull away from the hug? Or are we going to keep doing this and forget all about my first day in college?” I asked while patting her back.

She finally pulled away to look at my face but didn’t let me go. “It’s because I feel like I have not seen you for ages,” she sniffed, making me chuckle.

“Aww…” I cooed, caressing her hair gently. “But didn’t we face time yesterday and have been doing it every single day for the past whole year?” I reminded her.

“Yeah, but meeting in person is different from face-time,” she said with a pout on her lips, and I couldn’t help but smile at her cuteness.

“Shall we get going? Or else we will have to face time with my mom and explain why we were late to college,” I said.

She quickly let me go and nodded her head. “We shall, because I don’t want to get scolded by my favorite person in the world.”.

I smiled at how she still calls my mom her favourite person. She is really close to my mother as if she is her long lost daughter.

Probably that is because Amber lost her mom when she was very young. And my mother took care of her just as good as she took care of me when we were younger.

Coming out of my thoughts I took a step towards Amber’s car but stopped in my tracks when she held my hand.

“Babes, will you bother to explain what in the world you are wearing right now?” She asked with wide eyes, as she had just noticed the clothes I was wearing.

“For your kind information, these are called clothes,” I replied just as dramatically as she asked.

“No, hon, these are disasters. What happened to your dressing sense? You are finally starting your college life and you are dressed up like some nun. It’s not acceptable, Jen” She asked in genuine concern, making me think that I have done something illegal.

I looked down at myself. I am wearing black jeans and an oversized white hoodie. I don’t find anything wrong with my clothes.

I know, this is not how I usually dress up.

I might not wear mini skirts or fashionable clothes like Amber wears. But still, I don’t dress up like a nerd or ‘a nun’ as Am just described.

Today, I dressed in these clothes- which are making my friend so shocked- because these were the first thing I found when I opened my luggage this morning.

I didn’t get to unpack yesterday as I was very tired after traveling for more than six hours from my old house to this city.

“And what’s with the glasses? Where are your contact lenses?” She continued with her interrogation, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I know she won’t make any moves to drive us to college until I answer her questions. So I decided to explain myself.

“About the glasses, my contacts broke right before moving here, and I didn’t have any time to buy them.”

“And what about the clothes?” she demanded while folding her arms over her chest.

I sighed. “I find these clothes comfortable, Am. These are much better than the mini skirt you are wearing right now,” I teased playfully.

It made her scowl, and I instantly raised my hands in surrender. “I take that back. And you can scold me all you want, but later. We are getting late.”.

She sighed but nodded her head. “Okay, I will let you go for now. But we will have a serious talk later. Also, we’ll have to go shopping and buy new contacts for you.”.

“As you say, my lady,” I slightly bowed my head as if she were a princess of some kingdom, and finally she laughed.

“And I thought only I knew how to be dramatic,” she said, and both of us laughed.

“So, ready to kill this year babe?” Amber asked as she hooked her arm with mine.

I chuckled at her enthusiasm but nodded my head nonetheless, “Oh, hell yeah!”

***

“Oh my god! Oh my god!!... I am so dead Jen! Oh my god!...” Amber shouted as she drove her car through the main gate of Redcrest University.

“Relax Am, you can still make it on time. You still have ten minutes left before your first class starts” I said in attempt to calm her.

“No Jen. You don’t know anything. Mrs. Black is one of those professors, who reaches the class not even a second late. And everyone who enters the classroom after her is subject to get a punishment from her” Amber explained while trying to look for an empty spot to park her car.

Amber is a sophomore student that is why she knows about the professors and everything else in here.

Whereas it’s my first year here, so I will have to get used to everything fast.

We both are same age but I had to take a year drop because of what happened last year. That incident…

“There it is” Amber said while looking at the empty slot, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“I didn’t know you were so scared of punishments” I said in amusement. I am feeling a little shocked to see my best friend who is not scared of anything, act like this.

She looked at my face for a brief moment before focusing her eyes on the empty parking slot at the end of the parking area.

“Oh you don’t know what kind of punishments she gives. That is why you are saying this. Again, this is your first year here. It won’t be long before you find out what kind of devil she is” Amber said while parking her car.

“Now, you are exaggerating. You are reacting as if she will give you an assignment and tell you to write it ten times or something” I joked with a teasing smile.

Amber stopped the car and turned to look at me before saying, “Not just ten times Jen. Hundred times”.

“What!” I exclaimed with a wide eyes. My smile disappeared from my face.

“Exactly. That is the reason why I am behaving like this. So many students have been through it during our first year, including myself. And trust me, this punishment is more daunting than it sounds” She said while getting her backpack from the backseat and hopping out of the car.

I also took my backpack and got out of the car. “Then why did you stop at the café to get the coffee if it was so serious? We could have reached here about ten minutes earlier if we didn’t stop there”.

“Excitement Jen, Excitement. I was so excited to meet you after so long that I forgot it was Tuesday and that the first lecture is going to be hers today” she said.

“I am so sorry, Am” I said now feeling apologetic.

“Shut up, you silly girl. It’s not your fault” She said while pulling me into a quick hug.

“Alright. Now run. Don’t get the punishment” I said while pulling away from hug.

“Okay, I will meet you during lunch” she said before starting to run in the direction of 'A' wing.

Just as I was about to turn on my heels to make my way towards the office, when I saw Amber running back in my direction.

“What happened? Why did you come back?” I asked as soon as she reached near me.

“I forgot to tell you something important” she said.

I wanted to ask what was so important that she couldn’t wait till lunch to tell me about it. But instead I just asked getting at the point, not wanting to waste her time by asking questions,

“What is it?”

“Red alert!” she said.

“What! What is it?”

“It’s not ‘What’. It’s ‘Who’. They are the people we have to stay away from. So make sure to steer clear of them”.

“What do you mean? Who are they?” I asked feeling confused. The way she is talking about this ‘red alert’ or whatever with so much seriousness, it is making me feel a little concerned.

“They…” just as she started speaking again the bell went off indicating that the first lecture will start in five minutes.

“Sh*t..” I heard Amber curse under her breath before she said, “I will explain everything to you during lunch break, okay? For now I will get going”.

“Okay, see yaa!” I said with a nod before she ran away to make her way towards her class, leaving me standing here wondering,

‘Who in the world is ‘Red Alert’?’